


happily ever after

by lunaverenas



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Angst, Character Death, Crossdressing, Everyone Needs A Hug, Father Figures, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Loss of Parent(s), M/M, Minor Hinata Shouyou/Yachi Hitoka, Minor Kozume Kenma/Haiba Lev, Minor Yachi Hitoka/Yamaguchi Tadashi, Non-Chronological, POV Alternating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26699722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaverenas/pseuds/lunaverenas
Summary: There will be a ball and he will meet a maiden whose heart is full but who does not belong to royalty. It does not matter. His future has been written already.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Hinata Shouyou's Mother, Hinata Shouyou/Kuroo Tetsurou, Kozume Kenma & Kuroo Tetsurou, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	happily ever after

**Author's Note:**

> this will include canon character death, both of a canon character and of a character who canonically died.
> 
> one of those is not the death of a minor character, but with the way this ended up being i do not consider it as major character death either, so i tagged 'Character Death' instead of choosing a archive warning for it.

The prince is — _hopelessly_ beautiful. This, this beauty, it is a divine punishment. It is a curse.

The prince is — _hopelessly_ egoistic.

Kuroo Aimi left her husband in the middle of the night.

Oikawa Chiyo left her son in his crib, in the middle of the night as well, and if it were not for the fact that she comes from a noble family no one would care to know if he was there.

Tanaka Saeko left her brother in the abandoned house they live in.

Each one of them left someone special behind, to go to the castle and serve the prince. This castle is a curse. This prince is a curse.

_Monarchy is a curse that has given us poverty,_ Kageyama Kazuyo teaches his grandchildren, away from the castle, on a little boat in the sea, _the royalty is not far behind._

But back to the kingdom, Kuroo Aimi has fallen ill. She gives birth to a tiny little baby who she names Tetsurou and that is the glory that Tetsurou will have in life. Names are not to be diminished.

We will come back to Tetsurou later. All that you need to know is that Kuroo Aimi dies, because fairy tales do not tolerate the presence of a good mother, and that is exactly what she would have been.

This prince has a name.

His name is Hinata Shouyou, and in another universe he is a bright boy with a bright smile. In this tale he used to be one, until his mother fell ill. And then he became ego and beauty, put together in one.

This prince is a curse, like his father was, like his grandfather was. Cursed by the divine to be beautiful and egoistic and foolish. This prince is taught how to eat and drink, because that is a part of the difference between him and a plebeian. This prince is taught how to wield a sword and how to lead a lady in a waltz. He is taught each lesson his father and grandfather and great-grandfather were taught.

Maybe that is an essential part of his egoism. Or maybe not. Maybe he is the way he is now because he was never allowed to interact with other children, save for the child of the maid his mother doted on, whose name he does not recall because both of them are long gone.

Fairy tales do not tolerate the presence of anyone other than the heroine in a prince’s life.

The prince is — a scapegoat.

Each evil deed that is done will be his, until he marries a princess, until his wife has a son. Each evil deed that is done will be his son’s, until his son marries a princess, until his son’s wife has a son. Each evil deed that is done.

It is unfair, but it is the way it is.

This prince is a curse, and he does not talk to anyone other than his father. Maybe that is why no one can trust him (save for those who do not know better and those who know too much). It does not matter. His future has been written already.

There will be a ball and he will meet a maiden whose heart is full but who does not belong to royalty. And he will love her, and she will love him, and they will marry and they will be happily ever after.

In this tale this maiden’s name is Yachi Hitoka.

In this tale Yachi Hitoka is the child of the maid his mother doted on.

In this tale her heart is Yamaguchi Tadashi’s most precious treasure, and the maid is still dead (a good mother will not make it to the end), and the inevitable marriage between the prince and the maiden is a necessity, if not a nightmare.

It is not time for the ball yet. The prince is still a boy who is more empty shell than human.

Except, this is not what you are supposed to read. This is a fairy tale and he is the Prince Charming. This is a fairy tale and princes are supposed to be a representation of the happiness that will await the heroine at the end of her journey. This is a fairy tale and princes are supposed to be the ones who save the damsel in distress from her evil stepmother, or a creature (maybe a dragon), or death (maybe sleep).

Princes are not supposed to miss the way their mother used to comb their hair with her fingers. Princes are not supposed to miss the way their mother sang them a song about spring and cherry trees.

Princes are not supposed to think of the way their mother’s voice grew weaker and weaker as they closed their eyes, not supposed to think of the way their mother’s hand fell from their hair, not supposed to think of the way they began to cry and refused to see her pale skin and her motionless figure.

This is a fairy tale and he is the Prince Charming of the heroine.

There will be a ball and then he will meet a maiden whose heart is full but who does not belong to royalty. He will dance with her until midnight and then she will run away because the spell will break if she does not. He will dance with her until midnight and then she will run away and leave a glass slipper behind, but those do not exist in this tale, so we may need to go with a dagger. Let’s say it’s a glass slipper. This is a fairy tale, after all.

Kageyama Kazuyo was once called the wisest man I ever met by the man who is now king.

He teaches his grandchildren how to sail and how to swim because that is what they will need to do to survive. He teaches his grandchildren how to dance and how to paint their faces and how to hide razor blades under their tongues because that is what they will need to do to survive.

At age seven he fell ill. At age twelve he got stabbed in an alleyway after he stole a piece of bread. At age twenty he kissed the old king. He had a child with a lady who made him laugh until he cried. At age forty he ran away to the sea, a trail of death behind him, an eight year old girl who had watched her older brother die by the hands of a knight and swore revenge. At age forty he ran away to the sea, with that eight year old girl and a little thing they decided to name _Tobio._

He survives illness, wounds, betrayal and loss. He survives the storms and the waves.

He dies by the hands of a knight while he is on land, and revenge, once abandoned, is pursued again.

Fairy tales do not tolerate revenge, but the death of a parental figure compensates it.

Let’s go back to Tetsurou.

Tetsurou is sent to an orphanage. His name is the first thing he owns.

Tetsurou has a bed and a few clothes and the devil lives inside of him.

Wait. This is a fairy tale and the devil does not exist in those.

Tetsurou has a bed and a few clothes and — courage.

Let’s go with courage.

His skin bruises easily.

Fairy tales do not tolerate that, either. But it is true, and it is not as easy to ignore.

Tetsurou’s skin bruises easily.

It bruises when he hits his elbow on the wall. It bruises when he is thrown to the floor by the boys who kept yelling _demon_ at him. It bruises when he gets hit by the nuns. It bruises when he falls from the window and runs away. It bruises when he hits his back.

Honorable mention: it bruises when he reacts too late.

 _You need to be faster, Kuroo_ is what Kenma said, with the tip of his sword touching his neck. _Or else you will die. You are not a noble, so this kingdom of ours will not wait for you._

Tetsurou is — hopelessly beautiful, as well, but he is not a prince.

He is not the prince, though he was never full, though his stomach aches with hunger and his heart does not know what parental love is, as far as the thought of a mother and of a father goes. 

He does know what loyalty is, though, and for him it is the same. He is loyal to Kenma. He does not know what a father is but he does know Kenma and for him it is the same.

Kenma teaches him how to sharpen blades and how to deal with famine.

Once, while the village was painted white, he asked Kenma _why did you take me with you?_

Once, while the village was painted white, Kenma answered _I once knew a prince who would have liked you._

When Tetsurou asked him where that prince was, Kenma answered _the king got rid of him. Lev was not easy to deal with, he knew too much._ Tetsurou does not know what love is but he does know religion and something about the way Kenma smiles makes him think of the adoration of a divine entity. Tetsurou does not know what love is but he does know religion and for him it is the same.

He is hired by a woman who does not seem to be a citizen of this kingdom. In exchange for a quantity of money that will give Kenma the opportunity to run away to a better life in a happier tale, she gives him an order: _kill the prince._

  
  


There will be a ball.

There will be a ball and each maiden in the kingdom is invited to it.

Not all of them come.

Some, like Kuroo Aimi, lie in common graves.

Some, like Oikawa Chiyo, have wandered into another tale.

Some, like Tanaka Saeko, have become wanderers lost in infinity.

The prince is still more shell than human, but his happily ever after is within reach. He will marry Yachi Hitoka. Tetsurou and the Kageyama grandchildren will die, because that is what a fairy tale is like, because a good mother is like a villain and a villain is like a good mother: neither will make it to the end — except.

Except not in this one.

This one has never really been a fairy tale, much like the king has never really been good, like the prince has never really been only egoism and beauty.

Each maiden has a gown prettier than the other, and the prince does consider them. He gives them a dance and then moves to the next one. He stares at their faces but their eyes are the same, with a vivid feeling that he can not recognize. The prince does consider them but none of them are empty like he is.

He sees, then, one that catches his eye. The color of her gown is a deep red. She is wearing a cape.

He asks her for a dance.

“I have never seen you before.”

He can feel a dagger in her wrist. It is hidden well, under the sleeve of her gown.

 _This is the first time the prince has smiled since his mother’s death,_ someone has whispered. _He must have found a maiden that possesses a unique type of beauty._

 _This is the first time the prince has smiled since his mother’s death,_ someone has whispered. _The poor girl will be enchanted by him._

“So you should give me the honor of a waltz before you kill me.”

The prince is — hopelessly beautiful. This, this beauty, it is a divine punishment. It is a curse.

Tetsurou never stood a chance.

Neither of them did.

Kozume Kenma dies by the hand of Kuroo Tetsurou — in an act of mercy, by an order of the old king, because fairy tales do not tolerate the presence of a good (father) mother or a villain and the man who is now king has dictated that no harm must come to Kuroo Tetsurou, but someone must die and he is the best option available.

Kozume Miwa comes back home with a baby that she found in the river, and she sees her brother die.

It, like any other fairy tale, is a story with no end.

**Author's Note:**

> this came to me. and i accepted it.


End file.
